Serbia


Book Description

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the current, most critical political, economic and social issues, and challenges facing Serbia on its road towards integration in the European Union. The chapters in the book are written by highly renowned authorities in their respective research fields including prominent scholars, academics, and researchers.Thorough analysis of the challenges and issues currently facing the Serbian society and state encompasses the following: Finance and banking sector, including the cooperation with international and European financial organizations, and its internal competitive environment; Economic sector, including the effects of globalization on the entrepreneurship in Serbia and the intellectual potential of the Serbian economy; IT sector, which includes semantic technologies, the data-driven economy, and open-data ecosystems in Serbia and in related European areas; Foreign policy issues of Serbia related to the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia; Serbia and the European migrant crisis; Corruption phenomenon in all sectors and on all levels of Serbian society, including the varieties of its mechanisms, as well as methods and instruments for combating it; Media sector, including its status, challenges, and prospects in the context of Serbias Euro-integration; Social gender issues including womens domestic violence in Serbia and methods for its reduction; Status of rheumatic musculoskeletal diseases in Serbia. The book provides a representative account of the most important, current challenges and issues in Serbia. It can serve as an authoritative source of information on the covered topics for the general public, as well as for specialists in different fields, interested in having a deeper insight into these topics.




Economic Problems of Serbia


Book Description




State Collapse and Reconstruction in the Periphery


Book Description

"In the 1990s, Yugoslavia, which had once been a role model for development, became a symbol for state collapse, external intervention and post-war reconstruction. Today the region has two international protectorates, contested states and borders, severe ethnic polarisation and minority concerns. In this first in-depth critical analysis of international administration, aid and reconstruction policies in Kosovo, Jens Stilhoff Sorensen argues that the region must be analysed as a whole, and that the process of state collapse and recent changes in aid policy must be interpreted in connection to the wider transformation of the global political economy and world order. He examines the shifting inter- and intracommunity relations, the emergence of a 'political economy' of conflict, and of informal clientelist arrangements in Serbia and Kosovo and provides a framework for interpreting the collapse of the Yugoslav state, the emergence of ethnic conflict and shadow economies, and the character of western aid and intervention. Western governments and agencies have built policies on conceptions and assumptions for which there is no genuine historical or contemporary economic, social or political basis in the region. As the author persuasively argues, this discrepancy has exacerbated and cemented problems in the region and provided further complications that are likely to remain for years to come." -- Back cover.




The Growth Report


Book Description

The result of two years work by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists, 'The Growth Report' is the most complete analysis to date of the ingredients which, if used in the right country-specific recipe, can deliver growth and help lift populations out of poverty.




Formalizing the Shadow Economy in Serbia


Book Description

The main objective of this book is to develop a strategy and policy measures to enhance the formalization of the shadow economy in order to improve the competitiveness of the economy and contribute to economic growth; it explores these issues with special reference to Serbia. The size and development of the shadow economy in Serbia and other Central and Eastern European countries are estimated using two different methods (the MIMIC method and household-tax-compliance method). Micro-estimates are based on a special survey of business entities in Serbia, which for the first time allows us to explore the shadow economy from the perspective of enterprises and entrepreneurs. The authors identify the types of shadow economy at work in business entities, the determinants of shadow economy participation, and the impact of competition from the informal sector on businesses. Readers will learn both about the potential fiscal effects of reducing the shadow economy to the levels observed in more developed countries and the effects that formalization of the shadow economy can have on economic growth.




The Long Shadow of Informality


Book Description

A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development. It finds that pervasive informality is associated with significantly weaker economic outcomes--including lower government resources to combat recessions, lower per capita incomes, greater poverty, less financial development, and weaker investment and productivity.




Doing Business 2020


Book Description

Seventeen in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2020 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity.




The Geography of Serbia


Book Description

This is a comprehensive regional geography synthesis of the most important physical and human spatial processes that shaped Serbia and led to many interesting regional issues, not only to Serbia but to the Balkans and Europe. The book provides an overall view on the Serbian physical environment, its population and economy. It also highlights important regional issues such as regional disparities and depopulation, sustainable development and ecological issues and rural economy in the context of rural area development, which have been shaped by different political and historical processes. This highly illustrated book provides interesting and informative insights into Serbia and its context within the Balkans and Europe. It appeals to scientists and students as well as travelers and general readers interested in this region.




Serbia's Transition


Book Description

"The book provides a comprehensive evaluation of the achievements and failures of the transition to a market economy in Serbia, and explains why the process has been more complex than in other parts of the former communist world and in many ways unique. Milica Uvalic analyses 20 years of economic transition in Serbia. Starting from Serbia's favorable initial conditions in 1989 while still part of Yugoslavia, it proceeds to discuss the difficult 1990s characterized by high political and economic instability, international isolation due to wars and sanctions, and lack of fundamental economic reforms. The post-2001 achievements and failures of the radically new course in transition taken after the end of the Milosevic regime are evaluated in great detail, including macroeconomic performance, institutional reforms, integration with the European Union, and the impact of the 2008-09 global economic crises.--Publisher.




Kosovo and Serbia


Book Description

Azan on the Moon is an in-depth anthropological study of people's lives along the Pamir Highway in eastern Tajikistan. Constructed in the 1930s in rugged high-altitude terrain, the road fundamentally altered the material and social fabric of this former Soviet outpost on the border with Afghanistan and China. The highway initially brought sentiments of disconnection and hardship, followed by Soviet modernization and development, and ultimately a sense of distinction from bordering countries and urban centers that continues to this day. Based on extensive fieldwork and through an analysis of construction, mobility, technology, media, development, Islam, and the state, Till Mostowlansky shows how ideas of modernity are both challenged and reinforced in contemporary Tajikistan. In the wake of China's rise in Central Asia, people along the Pamir Highway strive to reconcile a modern future with a modern past. Weaving together the road, a population, and a region, Azan on the Moon presents a rich ethnography of global connections